Ball game device



Feb. 28, 1956 G. H. TURNER BALL GAME DEVICE Filed May 28, 1952 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY United States Patent" BALL GAME DEVICE George H. Turner, Newark, N. J. Application May 28, 1952, Serial No. 290,390 3 Claims. (Cl. 273-125) This invention relates to improvements in game devices and more particularly to such devices which test the skill of the player in rolling balls into registry with apertures in the device. It is the object ofthis invention to provide a device of the character described with novel means for .holding the ball at its registered position at the aperture to which it has been directed. In one form of the invention, the operator of the game manually releases the ball from a position rearwardly of the apparatus, re-setting the game device for playing another game. In another form, the player re-sets the game by mechanical means.

Pursuant to the present invention, as will appear from the description below and the attached drawings, a novel control means is provided which is placed undertension so as to assure holding the balls at their registered positions until it is desired to release them manually or'mechanically.

These and other advantageous objects, which will appear from the drawings and from the description hereinafter, are accomplished by the structure of my invention, of which an embodiment is illustrated in the drawings. It will be apparent, from a consideration of said drawings and the following description, that the invention may be embodied in other forms suggested thereby; such other forms as come within the scope of the appended claims are to be considered within the scope and purview of the instant invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a game device embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, taken on line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the stop bar and associated control rod therefor, in one position,

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view thereof, in another position,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view taken on line 55 of Fig. 1, showing, fragmentarily, adjacent game device units of the invention, and

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a form of the invention wherein mechanical means are provided for re-setting the game.

As shown in the drawings, the game device of my invention comprises a frame 10 having side walls 11, 12, rear and front walls 13, 14, and horizontal panels, as, for example, 15, 16, which may be of glass or the like and which are so disposed in the side walls of the frame as to define a passageway 17 therebetween through which the ball B may be rolled by the player (who would be located at the forward end 14 of the device). The ball drops down onto the angularly disposed plate 18 and preferably encounters dividers, such as pins 19, with bands 20 stretched between said pins to define passageways 21 leading to apertures 22 through which the balls may fall into the return compartment 23 (Fig. 2), from which they may be removed by the next player through the aperture 24. If desired, electrical means, such as are well known in this art, may be provided at the points 25 just rearwardly of the apertures 22 so that when the ball has reached such point 25, an electric circuit will be completed to a scoring or indicating device. The frames 10 may be arranged side-by-side, a second frame being indicated by the reference character 10' in Fig. 5, with suitable linking brackets such as 26 positioned over the forward edges of the panels 16 of adjacent frames and secured to the side walls of end units, for example. A similar arrangement may be used to secure adjacent panels 15 to the frames, as shown in Fig. 5, wherein the reference character 32 indicates a channel-shaped bracket positioned over the forward edges of adjacent horizontal panels 15, said bracket having a stem 33 to be secured directly to the upper edge 31 of the frame. A vertical panel 27 may be secured to the frame 10, as shown in Fig. 1, to effectively seal the game device. It will be understood that similar panels may be secured to the side walls, if so desired, or to those side walls which constitute the ends of the banks of the frames arranged sideby-side. It will also be understood that suitable channels are provided in the frames to receive the various panels described above, as shown in the drawings.

Each frame may be provided with means to receive the panels of adjacent frames, as, for example, vertical brackets 34 to receive the panels 27 of adjacent frames (see Fig. 5 and horizontal channels to receive the panels 15, 16, at the inner and outer faces of the side walls of the frame, as shown in Fig. 1.

Pursuant to the invention, the ball B is rolled along thepassageway 17 and will be stopped just short of entry into the aperture 22 toward which it has been directed by the particular passageway 21 into which it has dropped. To this end, a stop bar 40 is provided (see Fig. 3), comprising a relatively flat portion 41 from which the stop pins 42 project upwardly. The portion 41 of the stop bar 4% is hingedly connected as at 43 to the underside of the plate 18, as shown in Fig. 2, said stop bar being secured to the plate as above mentioned just below and in axial registry with the apertures 22. The control rod 45 is pivotally connected as at 45 to the bar 40 at a hearing 46 laterally disposed relative to the hinge points 43. The other end 47 of the control rod is preferably shaped in the form of a handle which, in the disposition of the parts shown in Fig. 2, is disposed at the rear and inwardly of the frame 10, where it may be conveniently actuated by the operator of the game. A single operator, from a position rearwardly of the frames 14}, may thus control the release of the balls from the point at which they are stopped, to return the same to the compartment 23, whence they may be taken by the next player. This eliminates the necessity for complicated electrical mechanisms such as have been used heretofore and provides a positive control of the resetting of a game or bank of games by the operator. The control rod 45 is adapted to hold the stop bar 4'0 in the stop position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, at which the bar 41 stops the balls, holding the parts in that position until the control rod is manually moved by the operator. For holding the rod in the position just described, it is provided with an offset portion 48 to be projected through apertured latch plate 50 fixed to the underside of the plate 44. The control rod is preferably provided with a bent portion 49 and is made of spring material, and so proportioned that, to project the offset portion 48 through latch plate 50, it is necessary to exert tension. This will take up any play in the parts and will assure the constant maintenance of the stop bar and stop pins in correct position. The stop pins may either project through the apertures 22 or through adjacent extensions 22 thereof as shown in the drawings.

Stop bar 40 also prevents the players tampering with the mechanism of the device.

In Fig. 6 there is shown a form of the invention wherein the control rod 45 is not provided with the handle 47 but is, instead, connected to mechanical means, generally indicated by reference character 51. Said means 51 constitute, essentially, a handle for actuating the rod 45, except that, instead of the handle 47 as in the form shown in Fig. 4, enabling the operator, from a position rearwardly of the machine, to move the rod 45, in the Fig. 6 form, the player moves handle parts 52, 52 (or other means adapted to that end) registered or made operative on insertion of a coin therein, as by providing the registering apertures 53, 53 to enable motion of the player in the direction of the arrow M of Fig. 6 to be translated into motion of the rod 45 in the opposite direction. To that end, means, such as linkage rods 54, 54', pivoted as at 55, 56, 57, may be employed intermediate handle 52 and rod 45. Essentially, however, the operation of rod 45 and control of the device thereby is the same in Fig. 6 as in the preceding figure of the drawing.

Both forms of the invention dispense with the need for any electrical mechanism for effecting release of the stop pins 42.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A ball game device comprising a frame, a plate supported in an inclined position within the frame and being provided with an aperture for passage of a ball therethrough, a pair of elongated vertically disposed members supported by said plate and defining therewith a passageway for a ball and whose longitudinal axis is substantially alined with the axis of said aperture, a stop bar pivotally connected to the underside of said plate adjacent said aperture for pivotal movement to two alternate positions, in one of which it is disposed beneath said aperture and parallel with said plate, a pin supported by said bar and adapted in said one position thereof to project through said aperture at a point in said axis which is spaced from the point of intersection of said axis and the perimeter of said aperture adjacent the outlet end of said passageway a distance less than the diameter of said ball, and the distance between said pin and the adjacent ends of said members being less than the diameter of said ball whereby same is blocked against passage through the aperture upon contacting said pin in its rolling movement down said passageway, and means supported by said frame and connected to said bar for imparting pivotal movement thereto-with a resulting withdrawal of the pin from its ball blocking position in said aperture, for movement of the ball therethrough.

2. A ball game device as set forth inclaim 1 wherein said means comprises an elongated central rod having one end thereof pivotally connected to said bar eccentrically of the pivotal connection thereof to said plate, and said rod being slidably supported in a latch plate depending from said first plate at a point remote from said aperture.

3. A ball game device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said control rod is provided with a yieldable lateral bend adjacent its said pivotal connection with said bar, and said rod being further provided with a camming offset portion cooperating with said latch plate for tensioning the control rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 938,179 Tanner Oct. 26, 1909 1,508,961 Dietrick Sept. 16, 1924 1,574,653 Holm Feb. 23, 1926 1,942,932 Nicholas Jan. 9, 1934 2,045,217 Dean June 23, 1936 2,482,336 Gill Sept. 20, 1949 

